WPAFB discusses FMS

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE — Senior leaders from across the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center gathered via video teleconference and in person at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base recently for the quarterly Foreign Military Sales Enterprise Review.

The meeting gave experts from the Air Force Security Assistance and Cooperation Directorate headquartered at WPAFB, an opportunity to provide detailed information on the status of FMS cases and answer questions and concerns from program executive officers representing a variety of Air Force platforms.

During the event, the team from AFSAC highlighted the FMS Enterprise Dashboard which was created to effectively track, organize, and assess what are often highly complex FMS efforts.

The FMS Review and Dashboard are a key part of the improvements put in place to meet the Secretary and Chief of Staff of the Air Force mandate to improve the Air Force FMS process.

“This is a very large enterprise that involves 109 countries,” said Brig. Gen. Gregory Gutterman, AFSAC director and chair of the meeting. “There are 2,808 active [FMS] cases, $164 billion in active case value in play, over 600 case lines at work at any given point and more than 6,000 airplanes that you the PEOs support.”

Gutterman went on to discuss how FMS issues often effect multiple organizations and he emphasized the importance of integration and synchronization of planning and execution.

“When you look at an F-16 sale, every PEO is involved in that sale,” Gutterman said. “If you are having an issue, most likely it will affect the other PEOs; their delivery schedule, their timing, from an integration and synchronization perspective. So an issue to you – although you may see it as only relevant to you, is valuable information for your fellow PEOs.”

The general noted the progress being made on various FMS fronts, including getting weapons systems to foreign military partners faster as directed by then-Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James.

“There has been a tremendous amount of progress made within the past year, which I credit to my team,” Gutterman said. “Thank you for your time and attention. Going forward we will continue to provide you with the relevant information you need to be successful in delivering airpower capability to our partner nations.”

AFSAC is responsible for administering the Air Force’s multi-billion dollar FMS enterprise and is in charge of the sale of aircraft, munitions, equipment, supply, and construction needed to deliver and support airpower capabilities for 109 partner nations around the world.